I want to remind everyone to remain civil. The last 3 posts have been getting progressively into some touchy political areas, though all have been quite civil, with no issues. Given we are discussing controversy around this game, and this was a controversy around this game, I guess it was bound to come up. However, we are now well on the way to identity politics, freedom of speech, and #twitter wars stuff, so everyone please keep in mind what is likely to lock a thread. Again, no problems as yet, just please tread carefully.(NOTE: I am aware of the irony, given my condescension in an earlier post. )

That's pretty low. One of the opening paragraphs sums up the review (I added the emphasis):

Developer Playtonic has been carefully faithful to what made those first games memorable, from the charming main characters to the focus on platforming, puzzle solving and secrets. But well-regarded as those games were, 19 years have passed since the first Banjo-Kazooie, and Yooka-Laylee remains too true to that original formula — even when it means not ditching game design ideas that feel stuck on those old cartridges.

To be fair, the reviewer does comment on other things, such as shooting, but I think the above quote it the thrust of basically giving the game such a low score. The reviewer also played the game for a long time, and for a lot of that, seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The reviewer is criticizing the game because it feels like an N64 game and gaming has come a long way in two decades, but I can see someone else saying feeling like an N64 game - warts and all - was entirely the point. Its about expectations and how the game was pitched. If you expected a modern game with some of the old characters, some gameplay and some atmosphere, or did you expect basically a new N64 game on a modern platform?

I think we had a conversation not long about how some old magazines used multiple reviewers to sort these things out. I know now we have things like Metacritic - warts and all - that sort of do that anyway, but this does seem to be one of those games that's like the cave on Dagobah.

Atarifever, for the record, I've always enjoyed reading your posts. Engaging, thoughtful, and very witty. Hard to believe it's been 12 years since I first started reading your posts here.

I'm stoked about Yooka-Laylee. It's too much like Banjo-Kazooie? Great, because that's exactly what I want. I have two sons, 16 and 9. I got my older son hooked on the classic consoles, including the 2600, INTV, SNES, and the 64. Banjo-Kazooie is one of his (and my) favorite games. He even has several Banjo-Kazooie t-shirts (including puzzle pieces and Mumbo). In January, we traveled from southern California to San Francisco (an hour flight) to go to an Indie game festival just to see a preview of Yooka-Laylee. My son jokingly suggested that we go and I thought "When he goes off to college, I don't want to be listening to 'Cat's in the Cradle' while wistfully looking out the window, wishing I had done more with him". We had a great time.

The demo was awesome. Yeah, we had to wait in line 3 hours to play 15 minutes, but it was a blast. If the game has issues, so be it. If Yooka-Laylee is half as fun as Banjo-Kazooie, I'll look at it as money well spent.

However, all this depends on if the VGC gives the game a bad review, then I'll hate it.

Gleebergloben123 wrote: I got my older son hooked on the classic consoles, including the 2600, INTV, SNES, and the 64. Banjo-Kazooie is one of his (and my) favorite games. He even has several Banjo-Kazooie t-shirts (including puzzle pieces and Mumbo). In January, we traveled from southern California to San Francisco (an hour flight) to go to an Indie game festival just to see a preview of Yooka-Laylee. My son jokingly suggested that we go and I thought "When he goes off to college, I don't want to be listening to 'Cat's in the Cradle' while wistfully looking out the window, wishing I had done more with him". We had a great time.

That is just awesome. You win the Cool Dad Award for sure.

Me and my youngest (he's 5) are gaming buddies. Right now it's mainly Skylanders (we bought more today from this vendor who comes to local craft and specialty fairs). Today I also got Raw Vs. Smackdown 2009 on Wii, and because of the very simplified controls, he can play that with me. His other favourite game is Splatoon. I have a video capture thing coming, and my plan is to do a Youtube channel for me, and one for him. No commentary, just gameplay.

Anyway, the "Cats in the Cradle" thing really hits home for me. Me and my wife were just saying today that once the amount of time passes again since I went to live in Residence for university (which feels like yesterday), he will be 22 and likely finishing university himself. I'll blink and those Skylanders will be stored in a dust-covered box under the stairs.

I have only played a bit but I think critics are giving this game generally the right score, for the wrong reasons. The platforming is solid and fun. What knocks it down to a C grade for me is the horrible quiz levels and cutscenes. I have only played one world and started the second but I have already sat through 2 very slow moving cutscenes and had to play a quiz that took me three tries because I didn't bother learning the name of every character in the first level or keeping track of my collectables.

The cutscenes are not only unskippable, but seem to have a 2 second pause between every line of dialogue. It’s unbearable. Even worse is that so far there appear to be a lot more of these cutscenes than the old Banjo games, so there’s no excuse that this is the retro charm people were looking for. Of all things Playtonic needs to patch, press X to skip is priority number 1. Heck even a fast forward button would be an improvement.

Also, the quiz in Banjo Kazooie was sort of fun because it was mixed with platforming challenges, and it was at the end of the game so it served as a sort of montage, seeing all the characters and levels we visited. Having a quiz after the first level is an appallingly bad idea and I can’t believe they thought otherwise. How many pagies do I have? I don’t feel like keeping a notepad to keep track! I just want to play the game! And asking me the name of characters and places in the first level that I haven't talked to or been to? Why would you let me go to the second world without getting all the pagies available in the first if you're going to quiz me on everything in the level? It's like if you used the 1-2 warp in Super Mario to get to world 4 but when you get there you have to answer how many pipes are in world 2.

I know my impressions sound very negative but it's just because I'm honing in on the worst parts. If the cutscenes and quizzes go down in frequency going forward then I bet the game could still be a solid B. Even if they don't, I think it's worth playing if you want a retro platformer. I would say if you're going into this looking for the next Banjo Kazooie then you're going to get what you're looking for, just with a couple really annoying quirks.

Okay here is my perspective. I have had a look and I think it looks quite good fun. Deffo one of the critic if it gets a physical release. Here is my confession and you all may feel a lot less about me after it.I liked Buzby on the Jaguar.I like Zool on the Jaguar.I also liked Croc on the ps1.Not so keen on Banjo but I have not been able to get into it yet though come the summer I am gonna beat that game. So for me this game looks interesting.

I just started playing Yooka-Layee a few days ago and am really enjoying it so far. I have only done the first world so I am not very far in but my first impressions are favorable.

My two issues with the game so far are the camera, which can be an issue, and the fact that the PC version that I am playing has a bug that causes the game to crash every time I quit. I do not understand how the game made it out the door with that bug, but I guess it's a fact of life now.

I 100 percented this one. I wouldn't call it disappointing if what you are looking for is a successor to Banjo Kazooie, and if you aren't looking for that why would you be playing this?

It isn't perfect. The cart stages and arcade games are disappointing, one of the five levels is buggy and poorly done, and there are annoying quizzes, but the platforming action is overall exactly what you would expect going into it.